


Pirates, Alliances And Other Things To Merrily Rob

by yaodai



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Hondo and the murderbot are just guests, I wanted something serious but ended up with a crack, I'm going to poke at more serious version of it when I'm out of ideas for other stuff???, swrrequests prompt: kanan and maul reluctantly works together to save Ezra, the murderbot totally existed in legends and I want him back, zygerrian slave traders are going to have trouble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 08:24:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8790601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaodai/pseuds/yaodai
Summary: After Ezra managed to get himself in trouble and away from home more or less because of hero-ing mixed with an unhealthy dose of piracy, Kanan Jarrus had no other choice but to ask the one person who knows everything there's to know about the galactic criminal underworld.





	

"I," Kanan Jarrus said slowly, barely managing to squeeze the words through his teeth. He was as close to boiling with hatred as it was possible for a Jedi to become. The fact he was absolutely, utterly terrified and desperate enough to actually stand here and talk to this person of all the people known in the galaxy wasn't making it any better.

"I need your help."

"What." Darth - or formerly Darth - Maul deadpanned, lowering his still ignited blade.

Kanan was able to clearly feel the stare of his fiery, yellow eyes, but the Force hummed with confusion instead of the usual murder and mayhem.

"You've heard me," Kanan groaned. "I need your help."

"What makes you believe that I'm actually willing to help?" Maul sneered. "And not, perhaps, finish what I have already started?"

"It's about Ezra," Kanan replied.

As he expected, the hum of the red lightsaber finally died.

For all the evil things Maul did, he had a certain soft spot for Ezra. Kanan couldn't quite identify the reason for it, but right now, he was going to play on the sentimental feeling as much as he could.

"Go on," Maul said. His voice lost the aggressive edge and now was just wary.

"He managed to sell himself into slavery," Kanan decided to start with the obvious problem and attach rest of the story afterwards.

"What."

"Yeah, I must agree with you on that one," Kanan sighed tiredly. "No-one expected this to happen."

At least now he had the full attention of the former Sith.

xxx

All they needed were the informations about the movement of the Imperial fleet in this particular sector.

Sadly, the Imperial ships happened to be too difficult to just jump in, blow everything possible up and steal the needed data on their way back, so the Rebellion was forced to look for another way.

Luckily, they were on a territory chosen by Zygerrians as a trade route.  
With the Empire only opposing slavery in the most official of news, while talking a huge part in the slave trade of non-human species, the Zygerrians had not only huge leeway’s with the oppressors of the galaxy, but appeared to be well informed when it came to the routes of the fleet - just so the Imperial officers were not forced into reporting the obvious crime.

Obviously, the Zygerrians were not letting just anyone on their ship and any infiltrator would stick like a sore thumb among the cat-like people, unless...

Kanan wasn't there for when the things went bad or when the whole bad idea was born, through if no one of the Ghost crew wasn’t able to stop Ezra from infiltrating the Zygerrian ship in the only obvious way, then he doubted that he would do a better job.

Honestly, Chopper had more common sense than this boy.

"What we were not expecting, was the fact the collars they're using are able of tuning out the Force," he finished describing the situation. If not for the fact that Ezra was in danger, he would be looking for an author of this insane idea, just to punch the idiot in the face.

Maul's reaction was just what he expected to hear.

"Are. You. Stupid?"

"Our informant is looking for him right now," Kanan said quickly because he already could feel murder in the air. Mauls fingers were probably itching to activate the weapon and behead him and in this situation it was somewhat understandable.

"Looking," Maul repeated after him, the tone of his voice getting more tense with every passing syllable.

"As I understand, even on the ship the Zygerrians are all about business... and it's quite hard to find out who owns who..." Kanan explained, feeling more and more worried.

Ezra was clever yes, sometimes too much for his own good and this situation was the exact example of Ezra outsmarting himself. He was also definitely very capable and the dark back of the alley wasn't too strange for him either;

Kanan remembered all too well the time he spend on the street and still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Ezra was living all on his own for seven years.

"Fine," Maul exhaled deeply, clearly forcing himself to stay calm, despite his instincts telling him otherwise. "What do you need from me, master Jedi?"

Kanan swallowed the snide remark without any complains.

"Well, you definitely have an experience when it comes to dealing with the uh..."

"Scum," Maul said. "The world you're looking for is scum."

"I was more about to say criminal organisations or something like that," Kanan let himself smile a little. "But basically, yes. If you can, can you check with your own resources who's currently doing business with Zygerrians?"

"You don't trust your informant."

"He's, well..."

Living by the moral values of piracy? Enjoying backstabbing for the mere joy of being stabbed back?

Oh, it was truly a small wonder that Maul didn't stab him yet.

xxx

"Hello, hello my friends! Hondo is here!" The pirate declared loudly, his voice and gestures as theatric as always. Kanan didn't need to see it to feel the need to roll his eyes in annoyance.

Overdoing it, that definitely was somewhere on Hondo's list of aliases.

"I am bringing you a very good news, my Jedi friend, very good!" the pirate cheerfully declared. "Well, I do have some bad news, but as they say, look at the positive side of things, yes?"

The sudden surge of murder intent took Kanan completely by surprise, almost knocking him down on the floor. It was heavy, it was dark it was-

"You!" Maul growled.

Hondo gasped.

"What a surprise! The Insolence guy!" Quickly regaining his nerves, Hondo clapped hands. " It's been years!"

"You know each other?"

"Know? Oh-ho-ho!" Hondo laughed. "We come way back, way back! During the clone wars, we were working together... well, he and his brother were working with my crew until they were not..."

"This," Maul hissed through his teeth, the fury behind his words so intense it was almost tangible. "Is your informant?"

"Oh and talking about your brother, what a big guy it was! Impossible to forget, a man of such a big..." he stopped for a moment. "Big. He was big."

Maul ignited his lightsaber.

"No, please, don't!" Kanan gasped, close to actually throwing himself at the former Sith, risking impaling himself on the blade. He hated it, but currently Hondo was the only person who knew where Ezra was. They needed him alive!

"What is there to stop me, Jedi?" the last word was spat like an insult.

"Ezra, think of Ezra!"

"Oh, you know my dear friend Ezra too?"

"Hondo, you're not making it better!" Kanan warned.

"You are letting..." Maul started, but the words didn't seem to want to come out of his throat. "You’re letting him near Ezra?!"

"Well, he decided that they are friends..."

"I don't care what he decided! You're the adult here!"

If Kanan had still the ability to glare, he would definitely do so. However because of Mauls backstabbing tendencies he was stuck blind, he had to set for coughing in a meaningful way.

xxx

The good information was that Ezra was doing fine, was healthy and nothing was broken, the bad information was the fact that he managed to switch owners on his own.

"Because you see, the guy who first purchased him had no access to the restricted files where the data we all need is stored..."

"We?" Maul inquired, the tone of his voice was both tense and annoyed. Once again, Kanan found it hard to not share the sentiment.

"Well, do you think Hondo is doing it all out of the goodness of his heart?” Hondo questioned them, theatrically hurt by the hidden accusations he managed to detect. “Well, I am doing it because my heart is good, but I'm also doing it, because my heart is not so big for being arrested by the Empire..."

"Just explain where is the problem," Kanan sighed deeply, more and more sharing Mauls opinion that beheading Hondo Onaka would make the universe a better place.

"Well, he flew away."

"He."

Hondo clicked his tongue.

"The new owner, you know? And since he's the owner, he took his precious possessions with him and so we are in a pickle."

"Find," Maul growled. "The boy. Before I lose my patience."

xxx

Ezra managed to sell himself not once but four whole times, causing mayhem and gathering information on his way through the slave owners.

Kanan was sometimes forgetting just how cunning his apprentice could be, when he wasn't trusting blindly in random strangers that obviously had all bad intentions.

He would be proud, he really, would, if not for the fact that because of his apprentice being so clever Kanan himself ended up stuck on a tiny ship with the former Sith and his killing intent. It was so strong, Kanan expected it to go make itself a cup of kaff at any moment.

Well, to tell the truth it already was.

For someone who rarely used the Force during duels and fights, Maul happened to also be very prone of using the Force for truly ridiculous things.

"Seriously?" Kanan asked, observing the mug levitating itself back to the sink. It appeared to be truly odd to his senses, since he wasn't able to see the mug. He just felt it, a shape carried around by the mystical, wondrous thing. "Shouldn't the Force be treated with respect?"

"It is power, it is there to be used."

Kanan decided to leave that without comment and just let Maul do whatever he was doing in peace, levitating cups or no.

For a guy who spend at least few months stranded in an abandoned planet, Maul knew lots of people who knew other people.

Or droids. There definitely was a mechanical voice among the many contacts the former Sith ran through.

The droid was the only one who dared to ask questions.

"- Do I get paid for it?-"

"Be glad I didn't decide to scrap you."

"- I wish to see you try. -"

Kanan started to feel a little bit uneasy. Chopper and his... charming character was a result of not having memory wipe for ten long years, but this droid sounded a whole lot more dangerous.

"You will, if you continue to be unreasonable."

A metallic sigh came through.

"- Scanning known Zygerrian sources... -"

"Known?" Maul inquired. "Are you dealing with slave traders now?"

"- I do not see a difference -"

"Fair enough," Maul agreed.

"- You are about to receive a transmission with data on Zygerrian slave trade activity in your sector. -"

"How come you know a droid mercenary in the first place?" Kanan asked. The curiosity was just too strong to ignore; while the bounty hunters were always rather a colorful set of nasty personalities and quirks, he wasn’t expected to ever find a droid proficient at this job. There was a reason to wipe the memory of every machine once in awhile and having one switching from helping sentient being in their tasks to hunting them down was definitely a proof that is was a very good practice.

"Oh, this is easy... I made him."

“You,” Kanan said slowly, trying to wrap his mind around the new information. “Made a murderbot.”

“It’s actually a protocol droid,” Maul explained. He definitely sounded like he was baffled by all the confusion he managed to cause. “I had no use for a droid unable to defend itself, so I’ve improved him.”

“Improved,” Kanan echoed.

xxx

Uh..." was the first thing Ezra said, when he saw the rescue team coming. Partially because he was in the middle of squeezing through the bars of his cell and partially because Kanan standing right next to Maul and no murder going on definitely was a sight to behold.

The Zygerrian ship itself smelled like a cat and misery, was quite on the big side, and honestly, Kanan paid only as much attention as it was necessary to it, because he was occupied with things other than a space vessel he couldn’t keep.

Mainly his Padawan and his safety and how they almost managed to miss each other.

"Hi?" Ezra tried again.

"Is this all you have to say for yourself?" Maul asked.

"Hey!" the young padawan protested. "I was doing a perfectly fine job!"

"Selling yourself back and forth?" Maul questioned him.

"As odd as it is going to sound, I agree with him," Kanan said. "This is... you're brave, you did great job, but this is enough. You don't need to..."

"I'm fine," Ezra reassured them with a grin. "And worth a lot, quite good to know that one!"

"...just how long you were talking with Hondo?" Kanan asked with a groan, feeling a migraine coming.

Here they were, after secretly sneaking up on board a slave ship, arguing instead of doing things that actually made sense, like escaping, especially since they were probably just a few seconds from the sirens announcing their presence.

"...how do you know he is helping me and coordinating-" Ezra started asking questions, confused and surprised, but then, slowly, he stopped.

"Damn," he grunted. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Yes," Kanan nodded. "Yes, you did. you are aware that the moment something would go wrong, Hondo would leave you behind?"

"You're too harsh on him, he would-" Ezra started, through Kanan was pretty sure his mouths were running on auto-pilot.

He stopped himself, before he completely landed himself in the world of wishful thinking.

"Okay," he sighed heavily. "He totally would, he's a pirate. But he would at least tell you...!"

"Do you have any idea how long it would take me to find you?" Kanan groaned painfully. Just imagining it was bad enough. Maul, of all the people, was right, Kanan was the adult here and he should make sure Ezra does not make mistakes like this one ever again.

"Hey, you found me pretty quickly!"

"I had help!" he gestured towards Maul. Considering how the Zabrak shifted it was pretty close to smacking him right in the face.

"I can see that," Ezra murmured.

"Well, I can't," Kanan growled. "And now come on, before we get any more attention."

xxx

"My friend, my friend Ezra, how good to see you after a job well done, yes?" Hondo welcomed them jovially, loudly and probably with his arms spread wide. "A shame though the adventure was cut short, it was going so well, so well I'm telling you!"

"Why," Kanan started. "Didn't you tell me that you had a way to communicate with Ezra in the very beginning?!"

"Because," Maul answered instead, his voice soft but nonetheless full of venom. "He needed you out of the way, too occupied by trying to find your dear student to notice there was no reason to search for him in the first place."

"So bright!" Hondo shook his head as i in wonder. "Always so bright, you surprise me, my friend! What are you doing among us, mere mongrels?"

"Currently I'm considering stabbing you in the throat," Maul declared.

"Now, that's not nice!"

Ezra moved forward at the same time as Maul reached for his weapon.

"No," Kanan put a hand on Mauls shoulder.

The Zabrak shook him off viciously.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?!" he snarled.

"No," Kanan shook his head. "watch. Just watch."

Maul did, through Kanan could tell how close the other man was from launching himself forward anyway.

The boy and the pirate hugged each other and then proceed to pat each other on the back with way overdone affection.

There was a lot of laugher, there were silly jokes that seemed to not fit the situation at all and there was more and more utter confusion radiating from Maul with every passing second.

He was probably noticing by now just what was going on.

Heck, Kanan spend quite a lot of time living as a smuggler - and being taught by a very smart one - and he still had trouble to understand the philosophy behind mutual friendly robbing.

Hondo backed off at some moment and said his teary farewells, which Kanan was trying very hard to mentally block; he already had an overdose of this annoying pirate and anymore would lead to pretty dark places.

At least Hondo now appeared to be in hurry, boarding his ship and starting the engines as fast as it was possible.

Ezra waited with a wide, bright smile for Hondo's ship to depart. As soon, as he machine rose up in the air, he dug up a comm-link out of his pockets.

"Hi, I'm calling to report something important? Yes, yes a criminal, you see, I saw someone that looked a lot like that pirate from the wanted posters dealing with some other guys? Can you check it out? I was afraid to intervene myself, but I put a tracker on the guys ship?"

Kanan would be deeply shocked, if not for the fact he once before experienced Hondo and Ezra going at the backstabbing thing and they both seemed to greatly enjoy the game. He still couldn't wrap his head around it, but at least the obnoxious pirate was out of his hair. For now.

Knowing Ohnaka, the guy would pop up at some point, acting like nothing had happened.

Ezra turned off the comm-link, radiating with satisfaction of a job well done.

Kanan swallowed a sight. While this action was not very Jedi-like, he couldn't help himself but feel satisfaction rising inside.

Ohnaka was a terrible, terrible man and he was going to run away from the prison anyway; if he wasn't already on his merry way through the galaxy, leaving the clueless Imperials in the dirt.

"You've got him arrested," Maul pointed out. "But didn't he had the copy of the files? Once the Empire finds out all that will be for nothing."

Well, not for nothing, at least not for the people onboard the Zygerrian ship; Ezra definitely used one of the open channels, the one that others still could listen on. He pretty much gave the Empire no other choice but to free the slaves and to make a show out of it. Missing an opportunity to spill the propaganda around for free wasn’t something the Empire would do; they liked it cheap.

While it wasn’t making Kanan very happy, to hand it over to the Empire like that, the people will still get free and that was what really counted.

"The Empire is not going to find a thing," Ezra said, satisfied as a Loth-cat that just ruined a perfectly good sofa.

Kanan didn't need eyes to know what the boy just pulled out of his pocket.

"Here," Ezra continued. "Is Hondo's copy."

After that he dug deeper into his pockets, pulling out some more data chips, probably the stuff the pirate was after in the first place, the thin flat pieces clicking against each other in his hand.

“I’m not sure what these are, probably documented trades or something,” Ezra murmured. “And I think Hondo stole some of these back from me… and maybe he managed to send a copy of the Imperial route manifest while we weren’t looking?”

Kanan had the time to get used to things like that. He meet ezra because the boy robbed him and it wasn’t just one time. Kanan, while never fully understanding, knew what to expect.

Maul was… much less prepared.

"How are you real?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank heavens Hondo wasn't the first person to discover Ezra. Because boy, this kid, this kid would be the true scourge of the galaxy.
> 
> I have this weird feeling that people tend to often forget how savvy little shit Ezra was, robbing people left and right, picking fights with the Empire just for the lulz of it. Heck, he managed to rob a Jedi in the very first episode. 
> 
> (Or it's just me being in love both with the Enemy Mine trope and the gag of robbing people blind)


End file.
